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The four knelt on the cold stone floor, their arms tied behind their backs, knees aching, and hearts heavy with the dread of what awaited them. Kael blinked through the haze of his pounding head and looked up at the throne before him. The man seated upon it, the so-called Techie king, was nothing like the terrifying tales that had spread through the kingdom. He was bloated with power, his skin sagging and pale, bruised beneath his eyes and around his thin, cracked lips. A king feared across lands far and wide—yet was fear really such a glorious thing?

Beside him, his three packmates knelt, bound and gagged. Ash gave a muffled whimper, her breath catching in her throat as her shoulder struck the stone floor. But as she tried to push herself upright, the guards forced her and the others down once more, leaving them bowed in the king’s sight.

“Father, I bring you the mages,” announced the prince.

Father? So this spoiled man was royalty. Jax struggled against his restraints, his breath coming quick through the tight gag, his eyes darting from Kael to the guards as he searched for any chance of escape. But there were too many armed men, and the room was too tightly secured.

The king rose with a flourish, his robes flowing as he descended from his throne, and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Well done,” he declared, his voice sickly sweet with pride. He stepped forward and gestured at Ash with a twisted smile. “Stand her up!” he commanded.

The guards hauled her up roughly by her arms, and Ash gritted her teeth, eyes blazing. The king approached her, examining her face with a cruel, mocking curiosity.

“So young,” he murmured, brushing a finger down her cheek. Then, close to her ear, he whispered, “Mages like you needed only to obey the rules, and you would have lived.”

He took a step back, giving her one final, disdainful glance. “But now you will die.”

A single thought cut through Ash’s mind, raw and seething.

"Kill him."

The voice raged in her mind and pulled at the beast sleeping within the corners of her thoughts.

"Live and come to me!" 

The command surged through her like wildfire, spreading to her very bones. Power rose within her, a primal force breaking free. Her ropes snapped, her muscles shifted and swelled, and she tore through the gag with sharpened teeth. Her body contorted and grew, taking on her true form—a towering wolf, claws gleaming and ready for blood. She snarled, her eyes glowing in the dim light of the throne room.

The king stumbled back, horror twisting his features as she lunged. He barely had time to cry out before her fangs tore into him, ripping flesh and spilling hot blood across his gaudy robes. He dropped to the floor, dead, his face frozen in a mask of shock. Ash felt a surge of primal satisfaction as she looked down at him, his blood warming her fur, but that satisfaction faded into rage—a rage for all those he had condemned, for all the lives he had taken without remorse. For all the sins that had been committed against her people.

"Get off him!" Enero, shrieking with terror, rushed at her. With a snarl, ash seized the prince by the collar, lifting him easily into the air.

“No!” the prince choked, struggling in Ash's iron grip.

Ash looked into the prince’s wide, terrified eyes. This one smelled of fear and desperation, not of cruelty. She tossed the prince away, sending him crashing against the throne, and turned to the guards now rushing in from every door.

"Get them! Kill the beasts!" the prince bellowed, scrambling to his feet and pointing. “Any who kill them will be rewarded with titles and lands!”

The guards, seeing the bloodied corpses of their king and spurred on by greed, charged, drawing their swords. At Ashe' side, the others broke free, shifting into their wolf forms, fur bristling, claws sharp as razors. They threw themselves at the guards, scattering them with powerful swipes, their snarls echoing off the chamber walls.

Kael lunged at the closest guards, slashing with his claws and sending two to the ground, clutching at the deep wounds on their throats. He pushed past them, clearing a path as Ember dashed to his side, his golden eyes meeting Kael's for an instant. Together, they fought through the line of soldiers, tearing their way toward freedom.

They were surrounded. Swords slashed down upon them and guns fired. There was no where for them to move. Ash felt metal bite down into her shoulder and she howled, loosing hold of her wolf form as the power of the silver pulsed through her. She fell to the floor, clutching at the bleeding wound. 

In the fray, Jax, his red-streaked fur dark with blood, shifted into his full wolf form, dropping to all fours and bounded over to Ash. She leapt onto his back, clinging to his fur as he bolted for the door. Kael and Ember followed, covering their retreat as they tore through the hallways.

Tearing blindly through the palace in search of a way out led Jax to a second story window. Good enough. He jumped at it. Ash saw the charge and flattened herself against his back, clinging to his fur as tightly as she could. Jax went through, breaking the glass and easily catching himself on the ground. The drop down did nothing to slow his pace. A quick glance over his shoulder reassured him that Kale and Ember were right behind him and had also fared well in the fall. 

The pack tore through the courtyard, paws pounding on the cold stone, their ears twitching to every alarm and the grind of gears as the palace’s defenses sprang to life. Listama's machinery was waking to trap them, and the automated turrets above swiveled into position with a high-pitched whine, their red lenses tracking the fleeing wolves.

“Those turrets will cut us down before we’re halfway to the wall if we don’t split up,” Kael growled, glancing around for cover.

Ember nodded, his golden eyes darting between the turrets and the guard towers. “Jax, take Ash. Go south and keep low—draw them away from the main gate. Kael and I will pull the guards toward the east side and circle back. Meet at the edge of the city.”

"Hold on, Ash," Jax muttered, crouching low to dodge a spray of bullets that ricocheted off the stone path beside them.

Ash tightened her grip, teeth gritted against the searing pain in her shoulder. Her eyes flicked to the eastern wall where Ember and Kael had run to draw off the bulk of the guards, trusting that their split plan would give them a chance at escape.

The palace gates loomed ahead, half-open with two guards scrambling to close them. Jax leaped forward, slicing through the air with claws bared, a flash of silver cutting across his vision as he dispatched them both. Ash clutched his fur as he charged through the open gate, the cool night air sharp against her skin.

They hit the city streets at full speed, slipping into narrow alleyways to avoid more guards pouring out of the guardhouses. The city’s harsh lights flickered across the stone walls, casting long shadows as the pack’s escape triggered sirens echoing down every street.

As they neared the southern edge, automated drones whirred to life above, tracking their movements with menacing clicks. Jax ducked into a side street, pressing his side to the wall as Ash tried to catch her breath.

“Jax, we’re close,” she whispered, gasping as he peered around the corner. “One last push.”

He nodded, his jaw set, then launched them forward, his speed a final burst of fury as he leapt over debris and darted down the last narrow street. When they reached the towering city wall, Jax spotted a stack of crates leaning up against the stone wall like a makeshift ladder. He scrambled up, claws tearing at the wood as he reached the top. They slid down the far side, landing in a crouch in the shadow of the looming city.

Jax lowered Ash to the ground as they ducked into the dense field of broken rocks that had collected at the foot of the hills. He glanced back toward the city walls, his breath heaving, his face tense with worry.

“Where are they?” Ash’s voice was barely a whisper as she scanned the city wall.

“They should be here by now,” Jax replied, his ears twitching to every distant sound.

They waited in silence, listening for any sign of footsteps or familiar voices breaking through the dark stillness. The minutes dragged, and with each one, a sinking weight pressed deeper into Ash’s heart.

She lowered her gaze, her voice faltering. “They would have made it if…”

Jax’s hand came to rest on her shoulder, his expression solemn. “We can’t wait any longer. They’d want us to keep moving.”

Ash nodded, swallowing against the knot in her throat. Just then, a sharp shout pierced the quiet, followed by the crash of heavy footsteps pounding across the sand and stone. Guntai soldiers, drawn by the city’s alarms, had closed in, their flashlights darting through the rocks like hunting eyes.

"Go!" Jax growled, nudging her forward. He cast one last look over his shoulder, his face shadowed with resignation, before they plunged into the depths of the rolling hills, leaving behind the city—and whatever had become of their friends.

They ran in silence, the darkness stretching endlessly before them, each step feeling heavier than the last. They didn’t look back, knowing that some things were better left unspoken, their hearts weighed down with the bitter understanding of what they had left behind. 

And in that silence, they both heard the voice calling them, telling them to come home. Commanding them to return to Rachna. Neither had ever believed that Rachna was a real place, but they could not deny the summons that they felt inside them.

Their Queen was calling them home.

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